It's now all about damage limitation, so she's trying to make out she's the poor, hard-done-by party.
However, the bakery was already producing a range of speciality breads prior to the programme, she explained, including Spelt and Honey, Rye and Caraway Seed, Multigrain, Soda and Scoffa. “Unfortunately these were not featured in the show,” she said.
Rubbish.
She told Mary herself at the beginning of the programme that they did only wholemeal, wheatmeal, granary and white bread, so talk about trying to cover herself. She obviously doesn't realise if you're going to tell fibs, you have to have a good memory, especially when you're being featured on national TV.
I saw the first episode and I have to say Angela did not come well at all and I always wonder why people go on these programmes and ignore the advice of the proffesional, it happens on Kitchen Nightmares and Hotel inspector too! I think if Paul took over, the business would be better off.
Oh, that's another thing about the programme I noticed: all this talk about yummy mummies etc. I've never thought of Raynes Park as a particularly yummy sort of place. I think it was even referred to as West Wimbledon, unless I misheard. Were they portraying Raynes Park as a Wimbledon Village sort of place?
I live in Wimbledon and no way is Raynes Park a yummy mummy area! that description is more suited to Wimbledon Village, I always thought of it as the halfway point between Wimbledon and Kingston and I think most people would rather travel to those two locations to shop for food than Raynes Park.
It makes sense that the programme makers would put out messages and fliers so that shopkeepers would know the new series was being planned and what the focus was.
I saw the first episode and I have to say Angela did not come well at all and I always wonder why people go on these programmes and ignore the advice of the proffesional, it happens on Kitchen Nightmares and Hotel inspector too! I think if Paul took over, the business would be better off.
I live in Wimbledon and no way is Raynes Park a yummy mummy area! that description is more suited to Wimbledon Village, I always thought of it as the halfway point between Wimbledon and Kingston and I think most people would rather travel to those two locations to shop for food than Raynes Park.
That confirms what I thought as well. The programme smacked of estate agents' hype and exaggeration more than the reality. Wimbledon and Kingston are both big, well provided shopping areas. I've shopped in both. Also Surbiton has had a Waitrose for several years now, though it is a much smaller shopping town than either Wimbledon or Kingston. Funnily enough, I thought I saw Angela in Waitrose in Surbiton the other day. I looked at her twice to make sure but I still wasn't certain.
I really liked the Corfe Castle ep.
The people were in DEEP trouble. If they kept on they would have been bankrupted by the sound of it, so in a way it doesn't matter if they've lost some of the village custom as that village custom wasn't enough for them anyway, so sod them!
It was an incredibly bad shop wasn't it, mainly because they'd not done anything to it since taking it over. Nothing wrong with that sort of a shop (basics etc, no local produce) but it was a mess.
The end result was not what I'd call a village shop, more one mainly aimed at tourists, but in somewhere like Corfe Castle there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd be happy to shop there, but as with most people you do most of your shopping in a supermarket and you top up in smaller shops. I know I couldn't do my normal shop in even the old version of the store. Mind you I couldn't in Waitrose either.
A good episode and nice people, although I think a lot of the problem was that they'd not gotten involved in anything, not saying the shooting etc, but not even getting involved in some of the social events. But I hope they are actually enjoying life there now
With the massive rennovation I bet Angela from the week before was spitting feathers!
I really liked the Corfe Castle ep.
The people were in DEEP trouble. If they kept on they would have been bankrupted by the sound of it, so in a way it doesn't matter if they've lost some of the village custom as that village custom wasn't enough for them anyway, so sod them!
It was an incredibly bad shop wasn't it, mainly because they'd not done anything to it since taking it over. Nothing wrong with that sort of a shop (basics etc, no local produce) but it was a mess.
The end result was not what I'd call a village shop, more one mainly aimed at tourists, but in somewhere like Corfe Castle there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd be happy to shop there, but as with most people you do most of your shopping in a supermarket and you top up in smaller shops. I know I couldn't do my normal shop in even the old version of the store. Mind you I couldn't in Waitrose either.
A good episode and nice people, although I think a lot of the problem was that they'd not gotten involved in anything, not saying the shooting etc, but not even getting involved in some of the social events. But I hope they are actually enjoying life there now
With the massive rennovation I bet Angela from the week before was spitting feathers!
One thing I do wonder about on this show is the fact that Mary only ever seems to change the shops to appeal to people like, well, her.
I haven't seen all of the episodes by any stretch of the imagination, but from the ones I HAVE seen there is a distinct tendency towards aiming at the middle class. This may well suit the shops that are chosen, but I'd be very interested to see her taking on something targetting a different segment of society. I just can't get an image of her taking on an inner city sink estate off licence and explaining that the problem is that they don't do enough speciality Belgian beers and that they need to bring in organic nibbles to go with them
Just saw a trailer for this weeks and again the people think it's a way to get a makeover on the cheap. Makes you wonder how it's sold to them before hand. Still love the show though
I just can't get an image of her taking on an inner city sink estate off licence and explaining that the problem is that they don't do enough speciality Belgian beers and that they need to bring in organic nibbles to go with them
I think the point is that a sink estate off-license would probably be doing very well!
The other places she has dealt with so far aren't making the most of their potential customer base.
With the bakery they didn't mention the fact it was mainly great for being a cafe, in fact the show made it look like loads of tables and chairs were just in the way outside. It was just that Angela just seemed to want to get a refit for free without having to change anything which isn't the deal when you're on tv is it.
I think the point is that a sink estate off-license would probably be doing very well!
The other places she has dealt with so far aren't making the most of their potential customer base.
This argument suggests that a business only has one potential customer base though, i.e. people like her. And that simply isn't true.
Whatever the business, Mary seems to look at it from her perspective or the perspective of her friends. She struggles to work within a world with which she is unfamiliar, and consequently every business gets transformed into a middle class, trendy boutique.
That confirms what I thought as well. The programme smacked of estate agents' hype and exaggeration more than the reality. Wimbledon and Kingston are both big, well provided shopping areas. I've shopped in both. Also Surbiton has had a Waitrose for several years now, though it is a much smaller shopping town than either Wimbledon or Kingston. Funnily enough, I thought I saw Angela in Waitrose in Surbiton the other day. I looked at her twice to make sure but I still wasn't certain.
I lived about a mile away from Raynes Park fifty years ago. The only reason to go there was to catch the train to Wimbledon or Kingston, or to the cinema but only if you wanted to see "Rebel Without a Cause" and East of Eden" back to back. As it wasn't part of a major chain.
Raynes Park was always considered a bit of a dump compared to Morden or even South Wimbledon, a couple of miles away, neither of which were great places either.
As for the programme, I'm wondering if they survived. Losing £6000 a month is a horrendous amount of money.
From where did they get the money for the re-fit?
To major on fresh foods is fine, but I bet there was a lot of wastage. I wonder how well they did once the cameras disappeared.
I lived about a mile away from Raynes Park fifty years ago. The only reason to go there was to catch the train to Wimbledon or Kingston, or to the cinema but only if you wanted to see "Rebel Without a Cause" and East of Eden" back to back. As it wasn't part of a major chain.
Raynes Park was always considered a bit of a dump compared to Morden or even South Wimbledon, a couple of miles away, neither of which were great places either.
As for the programme, I'm wondering if they survived. Losing £6000 a month is a horrendous amount of money.
From where did they get the money for the re-fit?
To major on fresh foods is fine, but I bet there was a lot of wastage. I wonder how well they did once the cameras disappeared.
I don't think it was £6000 every month: it ranged between two and six - still a frightening amount. I assume the programme paid for the re-fit. After they left, they lost some local customers, apparently - there was a link to an article earlier in the thread. I am not convinced that the makeover was the right thing for them. They needed to do market research among the locals to find out if they wanted a supermarket, albeit a better-organised and -managed one with some changes in stock, or a specialist village shop with fresh local produce but a more limited range of everyday food and household items.
Edited to add: Interesting what you said about Raynes Park. At least it had good films in those days!
Edited to add: Interesting what you said about Raynes Park. At least it had good films in those days!
My enduring memory is occasionally standing on Raynes Park station platform, this would have been in the late fifties waiting for the electric train for Kingston and watching the steam trains on the south coast line belting through the station. Although they were a "track away" they were awesome, loud and slightly frightening.
Yes we were all in to James Dean in those days although he'd been dead for a few years. The black T-shirt worn under a white shirt, jeans, casual shoes and a zip-up windcheater.
Well.. the girls thought it was cool.
Whatever the business, Mary seems to look at it from her perspective or the perspective of her friends. She struggles to work within a world with which she is unfamiliar, and consequently every business gets transformed into a middle class, trendy boutique.
That was the massive problem I found with her charity shop programme. It was utterly useless to think it's possible to copy that across the country.
Yes she is really up herself in some ways, but in the clothes shop in Brighton she was totally right, but really if you improve the shop you should attract a variety of new customers. The problems with most of the shops she's covered (probably excepting the bakers, as she obviously had the money and was just after a freebie) is that they were driving themselves into the ground one way or another and slowly losing more and more money, her coming along was the last chance, so better to take that dance than bankrupt themselves. I remember one old clothes shop and the only customers left were dying off week by week!
I also think that in many cases some businesses just can't survive whatever happens let alone with the problems with the recession, so I wouldn't be surprised to find many of the shops she's helped are now closed.
She is very looking for the smart type customer, but she did actually identify different groups in both the bakery and Corfe Castle that were in their local area and not being catered for. Yes Mary might like to identify herself with the yummy mummies and the well off residents, but whatever she thinks those people were NOT customers of the shops, and they might have been, so it is still valid.
I'm sure if she did a chip shop near a school she'd be getting in all the chavvy kids to come in to get their falafal wraps after school but she would be identifying markets.
"A deliciously stormy edition tonight, as Mary Portas wades in to a high-street greengrocer run by three sisters, Ann, Debbie and Jen, who prove to be as prickly as a sack of hedgehogs. When Mary starts critiquing their business sense (because they can't say how much they spend or what their takings are), they take it as a personal affront - particularly Ann, whose default position is arms folded, lips pursed and on the verge of storming out. Meanwhile, the soundtrack bubbles with subliminal comments including, as Ann digs her heels in yet again, a cheeky snippet of Stuck on Repeat"
Imagine...Angela x 3 ! Promises to be a good one tonight.
Comments
Ballhooks.
It's now all about damage limitation, so she's trying to make out she's the poor, hard-done-by party.
Rubbish.
She told Mary herself at the beginning of the programme that they did only wholemeal, wheatmeal, granary and white bread, so talk about trying to cover herself. She obviously doesn't realise if you're going to tell fibs, you have to have a good memory, especially when you're being featured on national TV.
Really? :eek:
How many other shows about a bakery do you know? LOL
Come Bake With Me.
Deal or Dough Deal.
Rise.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Baker.
Baking It.
Bread.
Taxi for Bingethink!
Big Baker's Little Roll
Eurovision Bake Contest
BakeDown
BakerHunt
Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Bake Away
all introduced by jenny eclaire?
I live in Wimbledon and no way is Raynes Park a yummy mummy area! that description is more suited to Wimbledon Village, I always thought of it as the halfway point between Wimbledon and Kingston and I think most people would rather travel to those two locations to shop for food than Raynes Park.
http://realbreadcampaign.blogspot.com/2009/07/mary-queen-of-shops-wants-you.html
in trade mags/sites, if you google.
Well that makes it clear enough, how she could have thought that her range didn't need improvement beggars belief.
Delusional comes to mind.
That confirms what I thought as well. The programme smacked of estate agents' hype and exaggeration more than the reality. Wimbledon and Kingston are both big, well provided shopping areas. I've shopped in both. Also Surbiton has had a Waitrose for several years now, though it is a much smaller shopping town than either Wimbledon or Kingston. Funnily enough, I thought I saw Angela in Waitrose in Surbiton the other day. I looked at her twice to make sure but I still wasn't certain.
How do you think they get people to apply in the first place, unfortunately they cannot rely on psychic ability.
The people were in DEEP trouble. If they kept on they would have been bankrupted by the sound of it, so in a way it doesn't matter if they've lost some of the village custom as that village custom wasn't enough for them anyway, so sod them!
It was an incredibly bad shop wasn't it, mainly because they'd not done anything to it since taking it over. Nothing wrong with that sort of a shop (basics etc, no local produce) but it was a mess.
The end result was not what I'd call a village shop, more one mainly aimed at tourists, but in somewhere like Corfe Castle there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd be happy to shop there, but as with most people you do most of your shopping in a supermarket and you top up in smaller shops. I know I couldn't do my normal shop in even the old version of the store. Mind you I couldn't in Waitrose either.
A good episode and nice people, although I think a lot of the problem was that they'd not gotten involved in anything, not saying the shooting etc, but not even getting involved in some of the social events. But I hope they are actually enjoying life there now
With the massive rennovation I bet Angela from the week before was spitting feathers!
I haven't seen all of the episodes by any stretch of the imagination, but from the ones I HAVE seen there is a distinct tendency towards aiming at the middle class. This may well suit the shops that are chosen, but I'd be very interested to see her taking on something targetting a different segment of society. I just can't get an image of her taking on an inner city sink estate off licence and explaining that the problem is that they don't do enough speciality Belgian beers and that they need to bring in organic nibbles to go with them
I think the point is that a sink estate off-license would probably be doing very well!
The other places she has dealt with so far aren't making the most of their potential customer base.
With the bakery they didn't mention the fact it was mainly great for being a cafe, in fact the show made it look like loads of tables and chairs were just in the way outside. It was just that Angela just seemed to want to get a refit for free without having to change anything which isn't the deal when you're on tv is it.
This argument suggests that a business only has one potential customer base though, i.e. people like her. And that simply isn't true.
Whatever the business, Mary seems to look at it from her perspective or the perspective of her friends. She struggles to work within a world with which she is unfamiliar, and consequently every business gets transformed into a middle class, trendy boutique.
I lived about a mile away from Raynes Park fifty years ago. The only reason to go there was to catch the train to Wimbledon or Kingston, or to the cinema but only if you wanted to see "Rebel Without a Cause" and East of Eden" back to back. As it wasn't part of a major chain.
Raynes Park was always considered a bit of a dump compared to Morden or even South Wimbledon, a couple of miles away, neither of which were great places either.
As for the programme, I'm wondering if they survived. Losing £6000 a month is a horrendous amount of money.
From where did they get the money for the re-fit?
To major on fresh foods is fine, but I bet there was a lot of wastage. I wonder how well they did once the cameras disappeared.
I don't think it was £6000 every month: it ranged between two and six - still a frightening amount. I assume the programme paid for the re-fit. After they left, they lost some local customers, apparently - there was a link to an article earlier in the thread. I am not convinced that the makeover was the right thing for them. They needed to do market research among the locals to find out if they wanted a supermarket, albeit a better-organised and -managed one with some changes in stock, or a specialist village shop with fresh local produce but a more limited range of everyday food and household items.
Edited to add: Interesting what you said about Raynes Park. At least it had good films in those days!
The Hairy Bakers?
No, nobody would ever do that.
My enduring memory is occasionally standing on Raynes Park station platform, this would have been in the late fifties waiting for the electric train for Kingston and watching the steam trains on the south coast line belting through the station. Although they were a "track away" they were awesome, loud and slightly frightening.
Yes we were all in to James Dean in those days although he'd been dead for a few years. The black T-shirt worn under a white shirt, jeans, casual shoes and a zip-up windcheater.
Well.. the girls thought it was cool.
That was the massive problem I found with her charity shop programme. It was utterly useless to think it's possible to copy that across the country.
Yes she is really up herself in some ways, but in the clothes shop in Brighton she was totally right, but really if you improve the shop you should attract a variety of new customers. The problems with most of the shops she's covered (probably excepting the bakers, as she obviously had the money and was just after a freebie) is that they were driving themselves into the ground one way or another and slowly losing more and more money, her coming along was the last chance, so better to take that dance than bankrupt themselves. I remember one old clothes shop and the only customers left were dying off week by week!
I also think that in many cases some businesses just can't survive whatever happens let alone with the problems with the recession, so I wouldn't be surprised to find many of the shops she's helped are now closed.
She is very looking for the smart type customer, but she did actually identify different groups in both the bakery and Corfe Castle that were in their local area and not being catered for. Yes Mary might like to identify herself with the yummy mummies and the well off residents, but whatever she thinks those people were NOT customers of the shops, and they might have been, so it is still valid.
I'm sure if she did a chip shop near a school she'd be getting in all the chavvy kids to come in to get their falafal wraps after school but she would be identifying markets.
Imagine...Angela x 3 ! Promises to be a good one tonight.